Islamic State fighters seized control of a third of the key Syrian border town of Kobane today, as Turkey rejected sending in troops on its own against the jihadists. IS militants advanced in the strategic town overnight despite intensified US air strikes, as calls grew for ground action to support …

French President Francois Hollande Wednesday said he would back the creation of a buffer zone between Syria and Turkey to protect displaced civilians fleeing the bloody Daech offensive. Talking to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over phone, Hollande discussed the “alarming situation in northern Syria mainly in Kobani city” which …

Jens Stoltenberg, the new NATO secretary-general, is set to pay his first visit to Turkey since he took office on Oct. 1. Stoltenberg is expected to discuss security concerns posed to Turkey by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

Intensified air strikes helped Kurdish militia push back Islamic State jihadists fighting for Kobani, as pressure mounted yesterday for more international action to save the key Syrian border town. Across the frontier in Turkey, the government’s lack of action against the jihadists was drawing a furious response, with at least 19 …

US Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Wednesday discussed ways to continue supporting Ukraine in its struggles with Russia in eastern Ukraine. “We agree on the need for Russia to withdraw its forces immediately from Ukraine, to end its material support for separatists and …

France on Wednesday condemned a fresh attack a day earlier against the UN stabilisation force in Mali in which a Senegalese was killed. Since September, several African volunteer forces in the UN mission have been killed and a number wounded. Soldiers from Chad and Nigeria have been among earlier victims …

The idea of a buffer zone along the Syrian border to protect displaced people “is not something that is under consideration right now,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on Wednesday, while a Pentagon spokesman said the idea was not under active consideration “as a military option.” The remark …

Egypt will train Libyan forces to fight terrorism and help secure a shared border, the prime ministers of the two states announced in Cairo on Wednesday, stepping up efforts against Islamist insurgents in both countries. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has expressed concerns over militants who have capitalised on the …

Turkey held a security summit on Wednesday as Islamic State (IS) militants were approaching the center of the Syrian border town of Kobane, a crisis that triggered violent protests across Turkey in which 19 people have been killed. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu convened the meeting in an effort to combat IS …

On October 7 Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius. The issue of settlement of the Karabakh issue was on the agenda. Hailing the constructive involvement of France and the other Minsk Group co-chairing countries in the process, Minister Nalbandian emphasized the